'Everything's still possible'

Defeat 'no drama' for FCB

Created on 2016-09-29 at 11:00 AM
by Redaktion

The mood in the ballroom of the Villa Magna hotel was subdued when FC Bayern's traditional midnight banquet began. The German record champions had just lost their Champions League encounter with last season's finalists Atlético 1-0, their first defeat of term after eight wins in a row.

"I think it was a deserved defeat as Atlético did a bit more than we did. They just wanted to win more than we did," chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in his address, declaring: "There were times when we liked to travel to Madrid more than at present." Five months ago Bayern also lost 1-0 in the Spanish capital, just as they did against Atlético's local rivals Real in 2014.

However, Rummenigge stressed that "there's no point making a drama out of it." FCB lie second in Group D, three points short of Atlético. "Everything's still possible in the Champions League, even the first place, we shouldn't forget that. We still have four matches where everything's possible to finish the group stage as winners."

Ancelotti not pleased

Carlo Ancelotti, whose return to the Spanish capital ended with his first defeat as Bayern coach, agreed: "It wasn't a good display today. The first 20 minutes were okay, then we rather lost control." Yannick Carrasco's 35th minute match-winner also meant Ancelotti's first Champions League defeat in his sixth match against Atlético.

"It's always sad to lose, we don't want to lose. We have to analyse the match now and see what we didn't do well," commented the Italian, who did a first analysis following 90 intense minutes at the boisterous Estadio Vicente Calderón, turned into a cauldron by the 48,242 crowd. "We lost possession at important moments, we lost one-on-ones. We lacked speed. Taken altogether we didn't have many chances."

'Not our finest day'

Thomas Müller added that "we would have had to make ruthless use" of the chances Bayern did have to "take something away. It surely wasn't our finest day. Atlético were a bit dominant, also in terms of the quality of their chances."

Fernando Torres, who struck the post, and Antoine Griezmann, who missed from the spot in the closing stages, missed gilt-edged chances for the hosts. Müller, Franck Ribéry and Robert Lewandowski failed to make the most of Bayern's best chances.

At the end of the day everyone agreed that the defeat in Madrid was deserved, and that it is no catastrophe in the fight for the knockout stages in Europe's premier club competition. "Sometimes defeats are good, if you learn from them. What's important is that we show a reaction against FC Köln on Saturday and retain the lead in the Bundesliga," Rummenigge declared, focusing on Bayern's last fixture before the next international break.